A cherished terrace that is large enough for dinners, stimulated a growing family to expand their existing apartment instead of moving.
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When a family of four was about to turn five, although their apartment with two bedrooms no longer felt enough, they were reluctant to leave it. “It contained an unusually large private outdoor terrace that was too good to leave,” said architect Leah Solk, who based Gowanus set up SOLK ArchitectureA full-service architecture and design agency, in 2019.
During her first conversations with the customer, Solk drove the idea to move. “If you can find a three bedrooms that you like for the same price, it would cost to do a large intestinal renovation, you should go there,” she told them. “They were:” No, we love this outdoor space, it’s so rare. “” They mainly enjoyed organizing huge dinners there.
As lucky, SOLK’s customers could buy the adjacent unit with one bedroom, which also had a private terrace. That changed the comparison. “What is unique about these apartments is that they are on the second floor of the building, with a parking garage below.” The garage roof is shared by all units on the second floor on that side of the building. Combining the two units gave SOLK customers no less than 2,000 square foot outdoor space, about the same size as the interior images. “That’s why they decided to undergo the entire process,” Solk said.
SOLK recognized the layout of the enlarged space, where the original living room was where it was, but its size and amount of light that the space enters enormously raised by folding in what used to be the children’s bedroom in the original apartment. She again wore the kitchen of the original apartment in its entirety and renewed all baths. “It is clear that we could not move the access door,” she said, but she recorded a former bathroom in an enlarged access room with a mud room. The three children have their own wing in the former with one bedroom; The primary bedroom is located behind the living/dining room in the original room.
While the building was only 15 years old and nicely named its loft -like apartments, the cupboards and devices showed wear and have to update. “We had the chance to brighten up and warm up with new finishes and to create an improved connection with the outdoor space,” Solk said. “Every finish and surface is completely new, including the floor.”
The Solk company also devised the interior design, with input from the customers. Blue and green, from soft pastel colors to rich jewel tones, play a palette of bleached white oak for the manipulated wide plank floors and extensively custom -made milling work.
SOLK gave a 12-foot-long table for the dining area (top photo) and a matching sofa, from furniture maker Jeane Therrien from Galerie Jeane in Gowanus. “It is one of those special things that will be passed on to the children,” said the architect. She had made a tailor -made light fixture by Allied maker in bleached white oak for above the table, as well as a dimmable linear brass LED light that runs the length of the dining room. “You can place art everywhere and it will be beautifully lit, and it is also mood lighting.”
The submission of the apartment is to the left of the mud room, along the tiled corridor. “You can put wet coats, prams and bicycles in and close the sliding door,” Solk said. “Those are the reality of life with children in New York City.”
Both apartments had small galley kitchens. Solk eliminated that one in the smaller apartment and expanded the other. “We have not moved the kitchen location, but have greatly raised the size in the direction of the windows, so the kitchen is better connected to natural light.” She moved the sink to a new centrum island. “Usually you can’t do that” in a building with multiple units because there is no access to waste lines, Solk said: “But because there is a parking garage below, the building allowed it and we had the flexibility to change the footprint.”
Pounded white oak cupboards is a soft beige. The island is painted “so it can be its own object,” said Solk, with counters of Calacatta Turquoise Marble.
A “very useful” dry bar for those who entertain, or a tea/coffee station, is a must in all Solk’s kitchens. The back of this is woven stick, creating a dotted shade pattern while the light of the windows of the living room allows in the entrance of the entry.
The ladies’ room is hidden behind a curved wall next to the dry rod. The emerald green ceramic tile from Heath is a dramatic moment in an apartment schedule that is overall calm and quiet. A cove light that has been put in the ceiling rinses the wall down; An exhaust fan is also hidden there.
The marble sink and mirror were tailor -made from remaining plates from the kitchen.
Under the reserve furniture of the living room there are an extra deep sofa of restoration hardware, an adapted milling work bench along the end of the room and an art tv. A play space of 17 square foot was made for the little ones.
SOLK moved the entrance to the primary suite to the back of the dining area and brought a walk -through place from the course of the house.
Calacatta Viola Marble with pronounced Bordeauxen Veining makes a showstopping shower and sink for the and suite primary bath, the plates that are carefully balanced for visual impact.
The children’s wing, with two bedrooms, a bath and a laundry room, is through a door at the end of the living room.
The two girls have the largest of the two bedrooms, with a very special curved bedniches, covered with wall painting wallpaper and with storage drawers and a trundle bed underneath. “Because they share, we each wanted to give her own private space,” Solk said. The milling work is a light pistachio color painted. “The girls just love it. It’s very nice.”
The children’s pool is a ‘gender -neutral space’, Solk said, in colors they can live for years. The capsule-shaped adjusted vanity has whimsical twisted legs and a winding mirror. “We tried to make it feel nice.” A deep bathtub offers all three little ones at the same time.
[Photos by Devon Banks]
The Insider Is Brownstoner’s weekly in -depth look at a remarkable interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning.
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